The Dow Jones industrial average had been up
as many as 89 points but turned lower in the late afternoon as
Bernanke's speech started. The Dow's loss of 19 was the fifth straight
decline for the index, the longest string of losses since August.

Bernanke
said the U.S. economy had not grown as quickly as had been expected so
far this year. He said growth has been held back by disruptions of
industrial supplies from Japan following the tsunami and nuclear
disaster there and higher gas prices.

Bernanke expects the economy
to pick up in the second half of the year, but he acknowledged that the
pace of the growth remains "frustratingly slow from the perspective of
millions of unemployed and underemployed workers."

Some investors
had been hoping Bernanke would announce additional measures to support
the economy. Major indexes fell after it became clear that Bernanke was
not wavering from his view that the U.S. economy is growing gradually
and does not need more stimulus. The Fed's $600 billion bond-buying
program, which is aimed at keeping interest rates low, is ending at the
end of June.

"People are getting skittish," said Brian Wenzinger, a
portfolio manager at Aronson Johnson Ortiz in Philadelphia. "Housing
is getting worse, and they're rethinking a possible double-dip
recession." But, Wenzinger added, the relatively small drop in the stock
market was a positive sign following several days of steep losses.

The
Dow Jones industrial average lost 19.15 points, or 0.2 percent, to
close at 12,070.81. The Standard and Poor's 500 dipped 1.23, or 0.1
percent, to 1,284.94. The Nasdaq composite shed 1, or less than 0.1
percent, to 2,701.56.

Stocks have swooned since late April because
of concerns that the U.S. economy is stalling from a combination of
high gas prices, weaker than expected hiring and a slowdown in
manufacturing. The Dow has fallen nearly 500 points over the last five
days. The S&P remained below the psychologically important level of
1,300 for the second straight day and closed at its lowest level in two
and a half months.

The Labor Department reported that businesses
had fewer job openings in April. The government said that employers
posted 3 million ads for jobs in April, down from 3.1 million in March.
The figure added to the stack of other signs that the U.S. is having an
employment crisis. However, the report did little to change the
direction of stocks.

In corporate news, a contentious acquisition
proposal ratcheted up the stock price of all companies involved.
International Paper Co. rose 0.4 percent after smaller rival
Temple-Inland fought back against International Paper's hostile takeover
bid for $3.3 billion in cash. Temple-Inland soared 40 percent on the
news. Weyerhaeuser Co. rose 5 percent, the most of any company in the
S&P 500, on suspicion it was another takeover candidate for
International Paper.

Cablevision Systems Corp. rose 4.5 percent
after the New York-area cable company set a date when it would spin off
its cable networks. The company plans to divest popular television
networks including AMC, which broadcasts the popular "Mad Men" show on
June 16. Investors prefer the sleeker broadcast networks like WE TV, IFC
and the Sundance Channel operating on their own to the current unwieldy
corporate structure.